Call Me a Woman If You Want, But I Love the Shoe Shop

I'm still too excited about where my dad and I went this evening to even think about writing a coherent post about Halifax, Nova Scotia. So here's the shorthand of it.

The city is cool and fun. We spent the day walking the boardwalk along the waterfront where many musicians play their violins, guitars, and bagpipes (Nova Scotia does mean New Scotland after all... I think) in front of some very cool stores and restaurants.

Then we poked our heads into the casino. Then Dad lost $60 on slots (to his credit, he did win $50).

Then we came back to the hotel (not far at all). Then we worked out in the small gym.

Then at 9:00 PM our time, which is actually 10:00 PM THEIR time because Nova Scotia is on Atlantic Standard TIme, we went out looking for a restaurant that might be open after 10 on a wednesday night. Then the cool looking martini bar we stopped in had just closed their kitchen but suggested the Shoe Shop down the street. So then we tried that.

Holy CRAP am I glad we did.

The interior of the Shoe Shop (http://www.economyshoeshop.ca/) is like walking down a street, and by that I mean there are fake trees built into the walls with spindly, leafy branches of red and orange branching out across the ceiling, covered in yellow Christmas lights. To your left might be a structure that looks like a cottage, with little windows and wooden doors, and if you were to go through that wooden door, you would find a wholly different section of the restaurant, complete with its own bar, built to look like the inside of the cottage.

The entire restaurant is one surprise like that after another. I counted at least three separate bars for each of its different sections, whether it was inside a cottage, located within another section separated from the others by Roman arches, or located within the central "Outside" like area which even has street lamps to the left and right of your path. I'm telling you, this place was COOL.

My dad and I weren't sure of the procedure when we walked in, so I asked one guy who ran by "I'm sorry, do you work here?", which I have heard others unconfidently ask, as the employees dress like the customers, "What do we do for a table? Is your kitchen still open?"

I was told to sit anywhere; someone would find me. Well, Holy Hell, this place has like nine different alcoves, and I refuse to call them rooms because they were more like entirely different "areas" located within the same building. I'm amazed that this restaurant/bar was that big.

But it gets better. When my dad and I finished our dinner and drinks (which were excellent by the way; my dad had haddock and scallops, I had Thai shrimp pasta), we made our way downstairs to the Seahorse Tavern. There, we watched an underground hip-hop group perform their act as lots of gorgeous girls shook their collective thang on the dance floor.

It was incredible. The music was fantastic, the atmosphere distinctive and unique. There were pipes running along the ceiling, leaking in some points on the dance floor in front of the stage where Utterly Krisp and Dj Josh (I think that is their names, apologies if I'm wrong) rapped and spun. The bar to the left, which was a full 360 degrees, was guarded on the four corners by large, bar-to-ceiling iron seahorses with evil, glowing red eyes. Long, dark wooden bar tops made an L shape around the dance floor (this is where my dad and I camped, watching everyone else dance), and booths were tucked into the corners between dark red walls.

We had a blast. I can't really compare this place to any other that I've ever been to. It would fit perfectly in Chapel Hill, Charlotte, or Los Angeles. The underground hip-hop we were listening to was actually UNDERGROUND. Could it be any better? Oh yeah, there was NO SMOKING allowed. I've never had so much fun and still smelled so clean.

So let's recap:

Great music: Check
Great locale: Check
Great bar design: Check
Great crowd: Check
Great atmosphere: Check
Great, clean air: Check
Great lack of shady looking characters and ho-like girls: Check
Great fun on a WEDNESDAY night: Check

One girl breaking it down on the dance floor, however, was wearing a fanny pack. I won't fault her for it as she was cute and could dance pretty well and forced me to second-guess what I thought was "hip" and "in fashion", Perhaps it's making a comeback.

Photos will be forthcoming, but its very late, my camera broke earlier today, and because we didn't research the ferry times from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Bar Harbor, Maine (which actually don't run on thursdays), it looks like we'll be getting up early to drive up through New Brunswick and into Maine. Which means even less sleep for me tonight than earlier planne.

But it was worth it, because now I see Clone High is on Canada's version of Cartoon Network, and I can fall asleep watching that. The gods have smiled on me tonight.

And oh yeah, there was never any indication that today was the 4th of July, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything back home. 'Cept for Jennifer. I do miss her. But Happy 4th to everyone else! Happy Birthday America!

--Cbake